The End by The Doors

I discovered The Doors when I was in my early teenage years. I was drawn to the lyrics immediately. Somehow Jim Morrison always seemed to be talking to me directly when I listened to their music. Mind you they had some really bad songs (e.g. Running Blue), but the song that always sent me on a journey whenever I listened to it was The End off of The Doors self-titled debut. This song, really allows the band to shine at various moments during its 11:47 running time. Right from the opening flemenco guitar riff, the song grabs you and takes you on a magical ride with twists and turns along the way.

So this brings me to the memory I have associated with this song. I actually have two stories for this song but I will post them separately. This story begins with me and a bunch of buddies traveling up to Pembine, Wisconsin which is a dot of a town right in the northeast corner of the state. My friend Fred's brother had a trailer up their that they stayed in during hunting season. For us, this was just a get away weekend and an excuse to drink and let loose. The first night we were up there, we starting drinking and having a blast. A real guys night out. After a while, the effects of the beers I had drank kicked in and I said we should put the Doors on and see where the music took us. At first the guys thought I was being weird, but they went along with it. So we dimmed the lights and started the song. At first their was some giggling but soon the room went silent as the song had grabbed them as well. I was in a deep place and as the song progressed I remember feeling more at peace than I may have ever been in my life. My eyes went closed and I clear my mind of any thoughts and let it fill with whatever the song exposed me to. Soon I started feeling as if I was moving somehow. Shapes starting floating around me with all kinds of colors. Now let me interject here, I was not on any type of drugs and only had maybe 3-4 beers at this point.

So as the song went on the motion began to feel more intense and the objects brighter somehow. During the “The West is the best” portion of the song, I remember having visions of the desert I had been in 1990. That faded and finally as the song began its march toward it's crescendo. I felt my heart start to race as the tempo of the song increases. With each notch of tempo, I started to feel like I was racing through space. I described it as sitting in Capatain Kirk's chair while going into warp speed. The kept going through the entire fast section until I was going to fast I felt like I was nearing the other side of the universe. When the song came back down, I was gripping the chair as hard as I could, nearly panting and visibly sweating. It was the most intense experience I have ever had without some kind of help.

After the song was the other guys looked at me and could tell I had just been through something intense. The thing was that they too had their own little experiences too. It truly was a magical weekend.

Does this song have any memory for you? Let me know.

Head Like a Hole by nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is one of those bands I call "a guilty pleasure". The early albums had electronic drums but I still love their stuff (well, most of it). The story behind Head Like a hole start when I first started college in January of 1991. I screwed up my math and English placement tests so I had to start in courses that were below 100 level and for no credit. In addition I had a philosophy class and a geology class. The philosophy class was a joke. It was called "God, Minds and Morality" but was taught by an atheist. The professor once yelled just before class, without any warning,  "While were are sitting here, there are babies being killed all over the world!" We all just sat there in stunned silence. So I hope you can tell why this class was a big waste of time after a while.On Thursdays, I had a 5 hour break between the philosophy lecture and the discussion. So I spent a lot of time hanging out on campus.

My buddies did not go to college but were avid pool players so they would come down to UWM and we would hang out in the rec center on my 5 hour break. there were many times that I would just skip the discussion all together because we were having fun sand the class sucked. While we played pool, this song would come on all the time and I found myself singing along to the chorus: "Bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve". Finally after a few times hearing this song I remembered to go see who was the artist was on the jukebox. So whenever I hear that song I think of ditching class with my buddies and playing pool.

I now work at UWM and a different buddy of mine teaches pool in the rec center so occasionally i will go and visit him. I always think back to those times when I step foot in there.

Kashmir by Led Zeppelin

 
First, I would like to thank Perplexio for his suggestions including Kashmir by Led Zeppelin off the Physical Graffiti album. I do have a couple of smaller stories I would like to share about this song.

When I first starting learning drums I had already been a Zeppelin freak (as immortalized in my high school yearbook). So it was no surprise that John Bonham became an early influence on me. I remember playing Kashmir in the basement and just getting into a zone while pounding away that amazing drum beat. The bass drum beats in the middle sections were a bit tricky for me at first but I eventually got it down. The long rolls near the end were especially fun and challenging for me at the time. I still enjoy playing Kashmir on the drums.

Skip ahead to the present where I am a family man and an avid fan of karaoke. We purchased a machine for my older son and we love it. Now even my 4 year old songs along (look for videos of this in the near future). As mentioned before, I have been a Zeppelin guy for most of my life and Robert Plant to this day is my favorite singer of all time. I always joked with people that if I could sing like that I would quit my job tomorrow. He was real, raw and powerful. So yes, I try to sing along to Led Zeppelin tunes with Kashmir being my all time favorite song to try and imitate. I have sang in public before while in bands and so I can sing somewhat, but we all know trying to copy Robert Plant is not easy. I love to try on this song because of the vibe it has. The moaning, groaning and the notes he hits are just magical even in my living room. Nothing is more rewarding than being able to hold that long note near the middle.

All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I've beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen.

Thanks again Perplexio for the suggestions. Do you have a memory from this song? Let me know.

Aenima by Tool

This song takes me back to the summer of 1998. I was a graduate student in St. Louis getting my Master's degree and had to spend a summer gathering the data I needed for my thesis at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico. Academically, the experience was amazing. However, personally it was a real struggle to stay focused when I was 1,200 miles form my fiance (normally we were 400 miles from each other St. Louis to Milwaukee). So finding some new music that grabbed me was just the prescription I needed while down there.

While I was there I met some very gifted students from all over the US and abroad. My roommate went to Vanderbilt and was a super nice guy. Across the hall was a another great guy from Germany who first introduced me to Tool and the song Aenima in particular. Being a drummer, I noticed quickly how awesome Danny Carey was throughout the album.

One evening we all gathered in the German guy's room (sorry, I can't remember his name), and he played the CD again. The song Aenima has some amazing drum parts including the middle section with the triplets. I could not get this song out of my head! Also, the lyrics really caught my ear as well. I was studying to be a seismologist and the song talks about how the material greed will cause the faults in California to sink Los Angeles. A song after my own heart you could say (the seismology references that is).

Now, I am not one for gratuitous swearing in songs but the f-bombs spoken in the middle section absolutely fit the song and the edited version played on the radio loses its bite when played. I eventually fell in love with the rest of the album while in New Mexico and as soon I returned to St. Louis I bought the DC and listened to it constantly for several months.

The curious aspect of Tool for me is that, as great as Danny Carey is as a drummer, I never tried to play their stuff a lot. His style is much different than mine and so I never caught on to playing along to Tool's music. I may do another entry on Forty 6 & 2 from the same album in the future but that is a whole different story. Let me know if this song has any special meaning to you. Thanks.

Refugee by Tom Petty

 

So, this memory goes way back to grade school. It was roughly 5^th or 6^th grade (my memory is going, I guess) when I was attending Cooper school. Every couple of months we had roller skating parties sponsored by the school which were so much fun. So this would have been around 1983 – 1984. I remember going to Rollero and skating with my friends. Whenever this song came on, we went nuts. We would go as fast as we could around the rink, weaving in and out of people. There were a few times when Refugee was played for the corner game which was similar to musical chairs. The song would play and when it stopped you had to skate to the nearest corner. The corner with the most people stayed in the game; everyone else had to leave the rink. Then the process was repeated. Back then, this game was a big deal and we tried everything we could to win. Those were fun times indeed. Does this song remind you of anything? Let me know.

Angel of Death by Slayer

Ok, so I understand that this may not be everyone's cup of tea but this song brings back fond memories for me. I just turned 13 and had just moved to a new area. I was just starting to make new friends when I met Carl. Now Carl was about 2 years older than me and a rebel in many ways. He had (and still does) have hair down to the middle of his back and basically raised himself. We both lived in the same apartment complex where I would go to visit and was amazed by the freedom he had. He could smoke in the house, have girls in his bedroom (even overnight a few times) and had no curfew at all. Being from a very regimented family I relished in this type of freedom even if it only lasted for a few hours.

I had started smoking by then and we would bum each other smokes (as we called them) and listen to music. I can thank Carl for introducing me to three bands that would have a lasting impact on my music listening enjoyment and later playing career. Up in his smoke filled room, with his goofy green frog ashtray (the same one my father-in-law uses to hold sponges, but I digress), Carl played me Yes (Classic Yes), Jethro Tull (Aqualung) and Slayer (Reign In Blood). Now that's quite a mix of genres I know, but I loved all three right away.

I grew up listening to mostly blues based rock so this music just blew me away. The song Angel of Death still gets me pumped up when I listen to it (over 25 years later). I fell in love with thrash metal and progressive rock that day and have never looked back. I have never had the chance to see Slayer live but I hear they are still amazing after all these years. This may be a reach but is there anyone else out there that has memory attached to this song? Let me know.

A Call for Suggestions

I would to invite any and all who view this blog to make suggestions for songs that hold a special place in your heart. You can pose the song, but I would hope that you would allow me to post your story so others can view it and respond if they would like. I will post this every so often to remind people. Thank you for visiting.